1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage medium having an information storage unit for storing information and an electronic circuit portion for processing information, e.g., an optical disk (to be referred to as an intelligent disk (ID) hereinafter; the term xe2x80x9cIDxe2x80x9d is not used as xe2x80x9cIDentificationxe2x80x9d in this specification) or the like and, more particularly, to a computer system having the storage medium as a central unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a disk having a cartridge on which a memory or a CPU is mounted or an IC card having a processor constituted by a magnetic-stripe storage and a memory or a CPU has been proposed.
However, a storage media having such intelligent is used to assist a computer system or for transport information. In recent years, the storage media is used as only a peripheral unit of a computer system.
The present invention removes the drawback of the prior art and provides a computer system such as a personal computer, a car navigation system, or a multi-functional television set in which a storage medium having an electronic circuit portion serves as a central unit, and a main body serves as a peripheral unit, so that a system which is required by an owner of the storage medium can be arbitrarily constructed.
In order to solve this subject, a storage medium according to the present invention is a storage medium having an information storage unit for storing information and an electronic circuit portion for processing information, characterized in that a program for controlling at least an external device is stored in the information storage unit, and the electronic circuit portion has control means for executing the program to control the external device.
Here, the information storage unit stores a plurality of programs, and the electronic circuit further comprises determination means for determining the characteristics of the external device and selecting means for selectively executing the plurality of programs in correspondence with a determination result of the determination means. The information storage unit stores the plurality of programs, and the electronic circuit portion further comprises display instruction means for causing the external device to selectively display the plurality of programs and selecting means for selectively executing the plurality of programs in correspondence with selection instruction. The information storage unit further stores data used in the programs. The programs and/or data are stored as a not-overlapped structure such that the programs and/or data are separated in each part of function. The electronic circuit portion further comprises communication means for performing wireless communication with a host computer, and load means for downloading, when a desired program or data is not stored in the information storage unit, a program or data from the host computer through the communication means. The external device is an input/output device constituting a personal computer, and the programs include a system program and/or an application program. The external device is an input/output device constituting a car navigation system, the programs include a system program and/or an application program, and the data includes map data. The external device is an input/output device constituting a multi-functional smart card, the programs include a system program and/or an application program, and the data includes merchandise catalog data. The storage medium is an optical disk.
A computer system according to the present invention is a computer system including a storage medium having an information storage unit for storing information and an electronic circuit portion for processing information, and is characterized in that a program for controlling at least the computer system is stored in the information storage unit of the storage medium, and the electronic circuit portion of the storage medium has control means for executing the program to control the computer system.
The information storage unit stores the plurality of programs, and the electronic circuit portion further comprises determination means for determining the characteristics of the computer system and selecting means for selectively executing the plurality of programs in correspondence with a determination result of the determination means. The information storage unit stores the plurality of programs, and the electronic circuit portion further comprises display instruction means for causing the external device to selectively display the plurality of programs and selecting means for selectively executing the plurality of programs in correspondence with selection instruction. The information storage unit further stores data used in the programs. The programs and/or data are stored as a not-overlapped structure such that the programs and/or data are separated in each part of function. The electronic circuit portion further comprises communication means for performing wireless communication with a host computer, and load means for downloading, when a desired program or data is not stored in the information storage unit, the program or data from the host computer through the communication means. The computer system includes a personal computer, a car navigation system, and a multi-functional smart card. The storage medium is an optical disk.